ARTS The Michigan Daily Monday, November 28, 1988 Page7. Murray's Scrooged a real screamer BY STEVE KNOPPER AND MARK SHAIMAN Does the phrase "It scared the Dickens out of me" mean anything to you? Well, the new Scrooged retells Dickens' A Christmas Carol in a hip, '80s, Bill Murray way, which is as funny as the original is scary. Like Steve Martin in Roxanne and Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam, Murray finds a mature outlet for his comedic acting talents and, once he gets plugged in, he's pretty electrifying. Murray ends his four-year absence from starring roles and creates a powerful Scrooge - this time in the form of Frank Cross, the youngest television executive ever. At first, Cross seems too outlandish to be believable, creating such TV specials as "Bob Goulet's Down-Home Cajun Christmas." Murray, though, builds on Cross's wacky demagoguery and gives him a bizarre touch that would make even Ebenezer smile. Cross's promotion for his network's live telecast of "A Christmas Carol" - starring Buddy Hackett as §crooge, Jamie Farr as Bob Cratchit, and Mary Lou Retton as a back-flipping Tiny Tim - displays P rugs, bombs, death, and destruction in the world around us as reasons to stay stay home and watch TV. But Scrooged has plenty of good reasons to take the risk and go out to the movies, especially with its enormous list of guest stars, the most in any comedy film since It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. JFoei like aettina As the Bob Cratchit-type, Bobcat Goldthwait goes brilliantly insane after Cross fires him on Christmas Eve. He first becomes a pathetic, sniveling runt with a grudge against Cross, then comes at him like the Terminator with a double-barrelled shotgun. David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter) as the Ghost of Christmas Past steers Cross through his former holiday experiences in an old taxi cab, taunting Cross with supernatural hijinks, as well as bluntly showing him his mistakes. Carol Kane steals the show as the Ghost of Christmas Present. All aglitter with gossamer wings and a magic wand, she shows Cross what his family is doing on this Christmas Eve, which really hits home for Cross. And Kane does plenty of her own hitting, trying literally to knock some sense into Cross, sending him reeling with pain and the audience reeling with laughter. A bit closer to reality is Cross's former girlfriend, whom he contacts after a fifteen-year silence. Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark) runs an agency called Reach Out, which helps the needy; she's a true humanitarian, and it is hard to find a reason why she is even interested in Cross, who tells her to fire her volunteer helpers. But Cross is in want of help himself, and she can't turn down a friend in need. Another of the needy is played by the late Anne Ramsey, who was nominated for her title role in Throw Momma From The Train. And be sure you catch the street band that Cross passes early in the film - the members are Paul Shaffer, David Sanborn, Miles Davis, and Larry Carlton. Still, Scrooged belongs to Bill Murray. Some of his old writer friends from Saturday Night Live, Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue, penned the screenplay. Says Glazer, "Bill likes to hear that we wrote it for him. It makes him very happy. So every chance we get, Michael and I say 'Oh, yes, absolutely, who else?"' Maybe this is sarcastic, but it is hard to imagine anyone else as Frank Cross. Not many people can be that much of a creep and so endearing at the same time. Scrooged succeeds in putting a new twist on an old tale. No one is surprised when Cross's inevitable reawakening finally comes on his own television station, in front of millions of people. But while the ending is cheesy, Murray manages to make it convincing enough to put tears in the audience's eyes. We've all grown up with A Christmas Carol, and we'll all be ghosts ourselves before it ever starts to fade, so why not add a few laughs along the way? (A Christmas) Carol Kane plays the Ghost of Christmas Present, a mix between Glenda the Good Witch and a member of GLOW, who tries to beat some spirit into -Bill Murray. I trI I I I I I I Normandiel I Flowers I 1104 S. UniversityI 996-1811 20% offI I Potpourri WITH THIS COUPON (good until 12/5/88) Lone per customer per week , A.K. RAMANUJAN Norman Freehling Visiting Professor Institute for the Humanities Professor of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago POETRY READING Tuesday, November 29, 1988 4:00 p.m., West Conference Room Rackham Building Sponsored by the Institute for the Humanities FREE The public is invited. Reception following the reading. 1 k r p BOERSMRA